Independent Person / Reserve Independent Persons

We are looking for people with an interest in maintaining high standards in public life and an interest in local governance to act as an Independent Person ('IP') and 2 Reserve IPs to assist our Monitoring Officer and relevant Committee with their standards work., The Council has a role to promote and maintain high standards of conduct of its Councillors and is required to appoint at least one IP to assist the Council in promoting this and dealing with complaints about Councillors. The IP and Reserve IPs are expected to attend the public meetings of the Committee in person - usually 2 per year, and if acting as the main IP, would provide recommendations to any Sub-Committee hearing on a Councillor complaint (these are arranged if/ as required). The IP and Reserve IPs would also need to be available for informal quarterly liaison meetings with the Monitoring Officer, and the Chair & Vice Chair of the Committee.

The IP and Reserve IPs also have a potential role in reviewing any complaint against a statutory officer (Head of Paid Service, Chief Finance Officer, or Monitoring Officer) if there is a recommendation to dismiss them.

Independence:

You must be independent of the Council and cannot be appointed to this role if you are a Councillor, co-opted Councillor or officer of North Hertfordshire Council or a Parish, Town or Community Councillor within the North Hertfordshire Council area or been this within the last 5 years. You also cannot be a close friend or relative of them. You should not have any significant business dealings with this Council or be an active member of a political party.

Your rewards

You will be making a significant contribution to public life. IPs and Reserve IPs also receive an annual allowance, currently set for April 2024-May 25 as follows:

• IP of £2697;


• Reserve IP of £648 (this covers potentially having to act as the main IP on occasion);


• reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses and reasonable role related training costs.
  
  North Hertfordshire is a large rural district with approximately 125,000 residents with four historic towns, Hitchin, Baldock, Royston and Letchworth Garden City. and many villages of varying scales, identity, and characteristics. The Council has 51 elected District Councillors and there are currently 27 local Parish, Town and Community Councils with varying numbers of local Councillors.